Big and small problems. News that I find ‘newsworthy’ today, without the political drama and all the noise that comes with it:
The Happy Quitter! Posts
I love my little narrator studio; it’s exactly the space I was hoping to have. Just a lava lamp in the corner is missing, and perhaps a brighter light behind the laptop.
But what was I thinking?
Shark teeth in the desert? That’s perhaps the most puzzling one, or is it the robots protesting AI? “No whales here…move on.”
9/11/2001, that’s one of the days when we all remember exactly where we were when the attack happened. I was at my desk, saw the pictures of the burning Twin Towers, and closed my office and turned on the TV in the living room.
Robots translating into sign language in real time. Terracotta warriors and red-legged frogs. Life on this planet is interesting when we look around closely.
Our puppy Luna, fourteen weeks old. Here she is: all legs, funny ears, and lots of energy. She is at the age where her body, ears, and legs haven’t agreed on what end size they want to be. “Stop growing so fast,” I want to tell her, but I fear it’s hopeless.
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I love reading about all the accomplishments, stunning achievements, heroic acts, and the little but not insignificant progress in countries around the world. It gives me the much-needed break from all the negativity.
Every evening, at 8 pm, we turned on the TV, sat quietly on the couch, and listened to the news. First it covered everything local, then the rest of Austria. From there it went to Switzerland and Germany, a bit of the Italian news and the rest of Europe-before the European Union existed. Then the rest of the world—by distance: first Africa, then the Middle East, Australia, America, and Asia last. I miss this form of news. Today I share my sources.
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Australians get their dental work done in Vietnam; daughters have (almost) the same inheritance rights as sons in Africa. An emergency heart transplant…so much is going on in this world. All newsworthy, in my humble opinion.
Thursday got away from me. I got up, turned around, and it was evening. One of those days when nothing goes as planned. Meanwhile, a lot of remarkable things happened on this wonderful planet. Of course, not all is good. But most importantly, not all is bad.
I suppose head-forward is the best way to collect all the yummy goodness.
I watch more TV or
lose myself in a screen,
far away from real life
and authentic people.
This week I dug particularly for the stories that are easy to miss: people doing remarkable things, and community achievements, and a few wonderfully unusual initiatives. No routine politics. No dirty laundry. Every Wednesday my belief in humanity gets renewed.
The school administration was able to evacuate 900 kids to higher ground in only fourteen minutes before the mudslide hit, which is perhaps the most remarkable news today. And of course, the crowning of a new King in Norway.
I do read the front-page news as well, but prefer stories away from shootings, murder, politics, and the endless drama they provide for too long. It comforts me to see that the rest of the world is interested in bettering not just their country, but the world and all the creatures and lifeforms on it.
Our new puppy is smart. We were hoping for a dumb dog. At our age, the last thing we need is a dog that outsmarts all of us, yet here we are. Our Luna is intelligent, cute, sweet, and the happiest puppy we have ever had.
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No worries. I didn’t list the renaming of lakes, buildings, etc but instead found sniffing Koala bears and buried underwear. I am loving this. It gets me away from the drama, the negativity, and the political nonsense noise we have to endure on a daily (hourly) basis.
Most of us have seen the pictures of the catastrophic flood wave in Nepal. I hope many of the missing people will be found alive. It’s devastating for this region. I continue to focus on stories that don’t make it on the front page.
Today’s edition is about people: courage, unusual achievement, remarkable service, art, books, teachers, volunteers, young people and a few stories that simply deserve to travel farther than they normally would.
Offline card payments – A 2,500-year-old statue in pristine shape – Cabbage shipments and so much more. The world doesn’t stand still, which is good.
Wild orchids in the UK – 100-meter robot race vs human time – Wild penguins – 15,000-year-old snake bones and so much more. This world is an interesting place. We can learn so much from each other.
These eyes
The trust, the love, the bond—
so fresh, so fragile,
so strong already.
Cosmopolitan: Being worldly, wise, and comfortable in any culture or nation without local or national bias. Knowledge makes understanding so much easier. We have the world at our fingertips.
I am so impressed by the ‘rest of the world’. This is what I found newsworthy today:
This happens when you lie on the ground to photograph a flower and a sheep walks by.
I am under the weather. Our yard is flooded. It has been a crazy summer. The dogs enjoy playing in the mud and reward me with muddy pawprints. I try to cheer myself up because I have the tendency to feel sorry for myself when I have a simple cold. I don’t like feeling so blah. Today I searched for oddities in the world news: for the things that make us shake our heads and we stare at the screen and wonder what on Earth people were thinking.
Collecting ‘good news’. It doesn’t get better than that.
Not sure if the succulent plant on my kitchen window will still give me much joy from now on. Sometimes I forget: everything has a price.
How much more interesting this world becomes when you ignore the front pages of magazines and newspapers. It’s almost like the ‘real life’ stays hidden behind all the sensationalism.
How can we not hear about this in our regular news every day? What am I not getting?
As the week comes to an end…how many Monarch butterflies are there?
How beautiful this world would be if we focused on events that don’t make the front page in every country.
No markets. No tariff reckoning. No politics (or not much). A different angle through the looking glass. Perhaps stories on pages 2, 3 and up are more interesting than front-page news?
Remember the cute little puppy we rescued five weeks ago? It’s not a puppy. It’s a comedian dressed up like a puppy. A terrorist with cute eyes. She is a biting machine with a suicide wish. She bites into everything that comes her way, and I mean everything…but me.
Remarkable things happen every day, but most of the time.
Sometimes, when you look at the bigger picture, your own problems don’t seem so big anymore. Maybe that’s what World News is supposed to do? To bring things back into perspective?
The weekend went by quickly. It’s Monday again. Here is today’s World News. I try not to repeat too much, but sadly, some developments linger for days, weeks, months, sometimes even years—like stupid wars.
And the world is spinning but not out of control.
This is Vader, on the morning of August 6th, 2022. A tenant had given him a stuffed animal to play with. The maintenance guy, who also happened to be one of my helpers when I have too much to do in my workroom, took the picture and sent it to me. “We found this little guy abandoned in the sink in the janitor’s room when we got our stuff. One of the apartments had been vacated in the night. Can you take him in?”
I have to thank all of you who read My International Newspaper. I have a great time searching for something newsworthy, which keeps me informed; that’s a wonderful side effect.
The wildfires, the drought, and the heatwaves are going on—so are the conflicts. Let’s focus on different subjects for today, shall we? After all, it’s My News:
I didn’t expect that on my way to the store. Mom and her twins on a stroll through our neighborhood.
Good news hardly makes it onto the front page. It’s almost like it’s not newsworthy, which doesn’t make any sense because we need to hear it. Most of us are tired of the endless wave of negativity. It took me a while to get it together today (the good news 😉). It’s an amazing list of international accomplishments.
The wildfires have now spread to Africa. These developments are terrifying, and knowing that so many still believe that climate change is just a hoax truly frightens me.
So much is happening in this world, and because so much is negative, I decided to declare Wednesdays from now on ‘Good News Days’. We need to hear about it.
It’s Monday, and I am grumpy. I didn’t sleep well, so it was nice to find some good news in all the chaos. Also—because it’s hard to stay neutral at this: Good job, UEFA! (Yes, I know. It’s biased, isn’t it?)
And the world doesn’t stand still. Not even on Sunday:
I am amazed by the amount of information we don’t get in our daily news. I think we should. That’s why I am running the thread.
I can’t help but think she will become a strong, independent woman who respects nature and all life.
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The day’s most important developments, short and sweet, facts only and—without soccer news because that deserves a post all by itself.
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Our living room looks like a daycare center. Our dog “Vader” is super busy watching over Luna, and we’re all tired but happy.
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My news fatigue is fading away. Turns out, the world is quite entertaining, and there is good news as well, right beside real and often negative news. No drama – No judgement, just facts!
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I didn’t know groundhogs can climb that high—or climb at all. Aren’t they called ‘ground hogs’ for the reason that they stay on (or under) the ground? I still can’t wrap my head around it. Maybe a squirrel in disguise?
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Meet ‘One Toe,’ pronounced ‘Won-tow.’ Her little human play buddies gave her the nickname, and it’s growing on me. The name makes sense. She has one white toenail on her right foot, and only the tip of the toe is white? Like she stepped by accident in white paint, but drew back her foot just in time.
This is so much fun. Thank you for sharing my interest in the world. May we have a quiet weekend, worldwide (one is allowed to dream, right?) Let’s start with Africa, Morocco:
Friday, July 24, 2026
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The 20″ long puppy bed I ordered last weekend arrived yesterday. What was I thinking? What happened to the tiny puppy?
Wednesday, July 22, 2026
Isn’t it stunning and wonderful how we have the world at our fingertips? I am really enjoying this new thread on my blog. Thank you to all of you who shared my ‘news’ with other bloggers. The world and I appreciate it. 😉
This brings me joy. Reading through news and sharing what I think might be worth reading—I keep the U.S. domestic political noise out unless it directly affects another country. (Sorry, Canada)
I get lost in emails every day. So much new information every day. Much is business-related, but 70% isn’t. Some emails are archived under “useful”, others under “might be useful,” and a handful of emails get a very special treatment, because they are important—to me. These are the ones I share.
Of course, sport is sport and politics is politics, so one shouldn’t read too much into it. Yet the FIFA 2026 World Cup win undoubtedly delivers a nice political irony: right under the eyes of US President D. Trump, the team that triumphed in New Jersey was—of all nations—the one whose government is distinguished by its steadfast refusal to treat Donald Trump with eager subservience.
July 20th, 2026 The World Championship in Soccer is over. Congratulations to Spain! Well deserved. What a game. But the world didn’t stand still. Here is the World News today:
Every morning I wish for world news, a short briefing on my desk. I have been searching for a website that would give me the world on a silver platter. One side, not ten or fifteen. No luck.
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The mural “We the People | Nosotros la Gente” is a 2026 work by Columbus artist Adam Hernandez, created to honor and uplift the working-class and immigrant communities of Columbus, particularly the South Side.
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She is eating so well and enjoys her food. She chews it so carefully, and I get lots of kisses. We are weaning her off the powdered goat milk. We are making progress at a rapid pace.
Hummingbird Clearwing Moth. I think it’s beautiful.
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While it’s a serious matter, I couldn’t help but smile.
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If I earned $1 every second. This would be my earnings:
$100 — 1 minute and 40 seconds
$1,000 — 16 minutes and 40 seconds
$10,000 — 2 hours, 46 minutes, and 40 seconds
$100,000 — 1 day, 3 hours, 46 minutes, and 40 seconds
$1 Million — 11 days, 13 hours, 46 minutes, and 40 seconds
Luna survived her first real bath and somehow ended up sleeping on my desk. Not sure how it happened. 😉❤️
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The white squirrel is not a separate species, but a color variant that can occur in different species of rodents and is rather common. These animals are either albinos or leucists. Albino squirrels do not have pigment in their coat or skin due to a genetic trait that affects melanin production. They typically have red eyes.
Our new puppy, Luna, is on a mission. She is stealing hearts. I was the first victim; my husband came next. Our youngest dog, Vader, is already toast, and our oldest dog, Patches, is trying hard not to give in, but she will hand her heart over as well.
She is eight weeks and one day old today. Four of her siblings died. The foster mom sent us this picture. Isn’t she cute? Then again all puppies are.
It has always puzzled me what all the cheering is for. Perhaps it’s simply the fact that I can still walk upright—most of the time. Or maybe it’s just that I walk at all.
Picking wildflowers in the fields
Riding my bike or rollerskating
Eating fruit from the tree — unwashed, of course
testing my limits
When I finally understood the English lyrics and realized the depth of this song for the first time, I cried. Not loud, but quiet tears were running down my face. I was in my late 20s then and already lived in America.
When the child was a child
It walked with its arms swinging,
wanted the brook to be a river,
the river to be a torrent,
and this puddle to be the sea.
Out on a walk on the island of Hydra, a vacationing Greek American comes upon an old Greek man sitting on a rock, sipping a glass of Ouzo, and lazily staring at the sun setting into the sea.
Every time someone calls me an author, I tense up. I can feel it in my shoulders. I purse my lips, and the wrinkles on my forehead grow deeper when I frown. “I wish they would stop calling me that,” a voice inside me whispers.
Do you open your neighbor’s garden gate, stomp through their rosebed, and then sit down on their patio?
The garden gate and the fence around the flowerbed mark the property line that we do not cross without the neighbor’s permission. In most cases, we can also easily perceive physical boundaries: if someone touches us, we quickly register whether or not we are comfortable with it and act accordingly.
I have been very fortunate in my life. I have been to Africa a couple of times, not just for vacation or a safari, but also, I was allowed to work there for a few months. Africa! When I say the word, you can hear the love I feel. It’s the same tone of voice that I use when I say “Hi, honey.”
A bluebird! I had given up, but now they are here, in our yard. Thanks, mealworm company. It worked! Finally!
Wandering around the Albuquerque Airport Terminal, after learning my flight had been delayed four hours, I heard an announcement: “If anyone in the vicinity of Gate A-4 understands any Arabic, please come to the gate immediately.”
It seems I have been doing it all wrong, and I can’t thank this lady enough for explaining it so thoroughly. Now I understand.
Always there, bothered by nothing. Our Vader, having a watchful eye over me.
I stayed behind with our dogs for a couple of days, a decision my husband and I had made together, while my husband hoped for a miracle five hundred miles away.
What’s the meaning of life? Oh, how I love this question. It has driven me mad for decades.
That’s my mindset lately. I notice the bigger picture, but try to concentrate on all the small things around me that are beautiful, and before you know it, a gloomy, gray day can look pretty interesting when you look closely.
Older than dinosaurs. Hovering, studying. A Green Darner!
A first-time visitor. I had to look it up; I had never seen it in our yard or on my walks. A rose-breasted Grosbeak. “Welcome to our home!” “The feeders are full, fly little bird, and be well.”
I couldn’t find the right words for it, and was unable to pinpoint my desire. Did it even have a name? The wish to have less restlessness, to be less overwhelmed, less of everything? Less cleaning, less sorting, fewer worries, no overthinking?
In the U.S. and Mexico, Austria and Australia, Switzerland and Pakistan, and in many other countries, in small apartments and suburban villas, on farms, houseboats, and huts, today, on May 10th, many countries celebrate mothers who are doing their jobs.
A new list of the 100 best vocalists of all time was just released. On top, #1 Freddy Merkury and I couldn’t agree more. I am a Freddie Fan for life, since a lifetime, so it seems. Aretha Franklin came in second. Not an argument from me here either. I love her, but then I got lost. Why was Barbra Streisand not mentioned in the first top 10?
I took a long blogging break here, unintentionally. So much is happening all the time, everywhere, on many levels – and ACTUALLY, I would have something to say about many of these topics. So why don’t I do it?
They don’t publish the good news.
The good news is published by us.
Women…where to begin? We are a work in progress, aren’t we? Or maybe it’s just my generation?
I hope you will never hear bombs, child
and hide in bunkers for hours, sometimes even days
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My Austrian soul is celebrating, and how could it not? We were once one. The Austrian-Hungarian Empire! I remember my first vacation very well. How surprised I was when my grandma told me we would visit our neighboring state, a country I knew nothing about.
I try to peel the scotch tape from the windowpane—
so stubborn I can’t claw it off
I stop by the nearest supermarket
for sponges and cleaning gloves
throw in some steel wool
for good measure
GOD: “Francis, you know all about gardens and nature. What in the world is going on down there on the planet? What happened to the dandelions, violets, milkweeds, and stuff I started eons ago?
Almost overnight, the trees are no longer bare but are budding. Flowers are poking through the soil. Nature has awakened, and soon all will be in full bloom.
The journey of an author begins after the book is published!
(The Happy Quitter)
Happy eggs, from healthy chickens, don’t need artificial food colors. No reason to waste money on store-bought coloring tablets if you have an old pair of stockings at home and some onions in the pantry.
I love to start my day with laughter, which often comes in the form of little video clips.
A performing arts group in Vienna, the capital city of Austria, plunges into the adventure of fighting fear! Based on the poem ‘Life doesn’t scare me’, the intergenerational ensemble develops a production in which it confronts itself with the dangers, horror, and craziness of daily life.
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Many, many years ago, in the last century, before I got married, I landed on a Spanish Island called Gran Canaria, part of the Canary Islands, which, interestingly enough, is closer to Africa than to Spain.
Not one word
can describe
the essence
of who I am
and what I stand for.
It changes.
I married an Irish man—an American whose ancestors came from Ireland. We even have the ship records when his ancestors arrived, but with a last name that’s not so rare, no telling if we have the right records, and nobody really cares. He is Irish, red cheeks and all.
Just a couple of streets from our house. We had bad winds on Friday, and thousands are still without power. I am glad nobody got hurt.
Like every year, we watched a couple of Oscar movies, but none of them knocked our socks off or left us wishing for more; the opposite.
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My friend is on her way to Europe. She and her husband will spend the spring in Crete, Greece, and they are both very excited about it. They will spend a few days in Rome, Italy, a couple of days in Vienna, Austria, and will make a few other stops in other countries.
Out of Africa is my comfort movie, because I fell in love with Africa the moment I set foot on this beautiful continent, which is so different in so many ways from where I come from and where I was going to (Austria/USA).
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In American football, a blitz is a defense strategy. The opponent rushes to the quarterback in an attempt to get the ball. Blitz means flash in my native language, German/Austrian.
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There you go, this is my life in one sentence. It came to me when I read today’s prompt, and now I am leaning back in my chair on my old desk, and I feel peace inside. This sentence is me, it’s the story of my life.
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A photo of the weather yesterday morning, and it’s going to be 76F/24 °C on Thursday. WTH?
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“The ordinary man has always been sane because the ordinary man has always been a mystic. He has permitted the twilight.
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I was a translator. I chose this line of work because I wanted to see and understand the world. I wanted to help build bridges between nations. My best childhood friend spoke four languages at the age of ten. I wanted to be just like her.
Once upon a time, there lived a good king who ruled his land wisely.
He used the taxes his citizens paid to build schools and universities so that young people could learn all trades and study all sciences, thus better serving one another. He also built hospitals and trained doctors so that his citizens would not suffer from more illnesses. He had roads and railways built so that goods produced in one part of the country could be quickly transported to all other parts of the country where they were needed. He urged his judges to judge fairly and forbade his officials from accepting bribes.
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It’s a swinger squirrel. It sits in the feeder that is supposed to hold the seed blocks for the birds.
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I am my biggest challenge, and I am used to it. I can be beautiful in my own way, big as a house, blocking every attempt to go through.
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I know this look. Complete disbelief, a person shocked in a way that can’t be hidden. When reality seems too much to bear—a picture taken from afar, a former Prince fallen out of grace, I almost feel sorry for Mr. Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, but not for long.
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“Stop” is my frequent request
to quiet the voice that comes out of a globe
too often unwanted and unasked
and always unaware of my mood and needs.
It blabbers nonsense, it’s overly friendly,
Alexa, a pretender, a sales robot, eager to please.
But I am not buying.
How did I become a pompous ass? I am not sure. I wasn’t raised to be arrogant, quite the opposite.
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Please, someone, tell this squirrel that we paid $16 for the squirrel-baffle.
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I was born into an annexed region. I could have been Italian, but because of my Grandfather’s stubbornness, and because part of our farm was on the right side of the mountains/border, I came into this world as an Austrian girl. I am also American, by choice and love. The love for the man I met so many decades ago, who I followed to his country, who became my husband. Whose language I learned, whose passion I share. I am an American-Austrian, an Austria-American, a female version of Schwarzenegger. I am an Austrian in America.
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When you write, you let it all go; when you publish, you set yourself free. You wish for your book to get wings and fly into the homes (and tablets) of many:
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A moment of pure joy! A heartwarming moment. A volunteer, an older lady, showed her happiness when a lingerie company donated a great number of bras.
We drove by the house after another disappointing meeting with a landlord, who had answered our ad:
Three dogs are looking to rent a house.
I so admire crazies. The freedom to act like a fool. Aren’t we lucky?
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Treating people with dignity,
it’s easy with “normal people,”
as we define them socially.
Work, income, and a structured life—
that’s how it has to be, only then
are you considered worthwhile—generally speaking.
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If you follow the famous cooking blog RecipeTinEats, then you know Nagi and Dozer and their story—and you have cooked many of the wonderful recipes.
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No wonder we don’t have bluebirds in our yard; they are all at my friend’s house, but it will change. I just ordered a small test bag with mealworms.
Fingers crossed that they find their way to our home.
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I have spent the last week arguing with myself because I can’t argue with my friend. Her mind is made up. She will not fight cancer.
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Teamwork makes the dream work! The snowplow didn’t make it to a nearby cul-de-sac, so the neighbors got together.
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Where there’s a will, there’s a way! Determined little fellow. He made room for the bigger birds. A snowbird, perhaps?
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It’s too cold to go for an early walk. -2F in the morning, I am staying inside in the warm house, we are waiting for the snowstorm that will come through later on.
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Winter currently has many countries firmly in its grip. Where we live, in Ohio, it’s freezing cold, but an old farmer’s wisdom promises good to come of it.
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Of course, I can read, but according to a very nice gentleman on YouTube, I cannot read the way I should when you record an audiobook. My eyes are faster than my mouth; they are not in sync.
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Just around the corner, while walking our dogs, I ran into a neighbor whom I hadn’t seen in a long time. Coyotes, they are hungry (and thirsty) too. It’s brutally cold, the ground is frozen, and so is all the water.
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Not so long ago, I told my neighbor to stop texting me. I did the same with all my students and customers. I asked them to text me only in emergencies, like when the house is on fire, or if they wanted to reschedule your appointment because they don’t want to drive in ice and snow—which I understand.
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“I don’t know where to start,” and the doctor put down the needle at an appointment for a biopsy. “This thing has to come out.” This Thing was my thyroid. “I normally don’t recommend it, but in your case, there is no way around.”
… I didn’t know what it was. The tail gave it away, but I wasn’t sure. Lots of fur on this rat. Sure enough. It’s a river rat. Maybe it’s…
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The universe in its infinite wisdom has decided that I will be cheated out of LIFE by 15 years?
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A billboard on a highway, showing my book, oh, how I would love that. To bring awareness to a subject we don’t like to talk about. The Unhoused! I was one of them. I am THEM.
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I wish you all could have seen my face and my smile when I opened your cards. The days before Christmas, when the mail arrived, were extra special, and I can’t thank you all enough.
A few years ago, a man went on a trip, faithfully following the navigation system’s instructions. After a few curves and recalculations, the device happily announced: “You have reached your destination.” The problem? He stared at a huge expanse of water – as if the navigation system wanted to say: “Come on, dive in!”
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Currently, my biggest challenge is promoting my book. If it weren’t for the charity organizations that will (could) benefit from my future book sales, then I would probably say, “Well, WTH, I wrote a book. I published it! Well done,” and pat myself on one of my shoulders and forget all about it.
